Jason Momoa! Sigourney Weaver! Stephen Graham! And the best Shortlist interviews of 2025
From Hollywood icons to classic rockers, we've had all sorts join Shortlist this year. Here's some of our favourite moments with the stars from 2025.
From blockbuster icons to cult heroes, visionary directors to musicians who refuse to stay in one lane, 2025 saw some all-time heroes join Shortlist for a chat. We spoke to artists at turning points in their careers, legends reflecting on the journeys behind them, and creative minds planning your next obsessions in their spare time.
There were giants of sci-fi cinema revisiting the roles that defined them — Sigourney Weaver on Alien, Avatar and her decades-and-counting silver screen legacy; Jason Momoa on metal, mayhem and the future of Dune — alongside actors digging deeper into craft, family and identity, from Stephen Graham’s profoundly personal performance in Deliver Me From Nowhere to Jared Harris’s thoughtful take on generational stardom.
Directors like Danny Boyle, Darren Aronofsky, the Russo brothers and Vince Gilligan unpacked ambition, risk and reinvention, while musicians including Brian May, Tom DeLonge and Nova Twins looked both back and forward — and to the stars.
Comedians, car obsessives, TV favourites and sporting icons all popped by. Funny, candid, reflective and occasionally surprising, we've had a blast.
Here's to 2025 — and roll on 2026...
Sigourney Weaver on Alien, Avatar: Fire and Ash and passing on the action hero torch
“I was so lucky because when I had put on the little Alien costume that was designed for me as Ripley, Ridley Scott… can I swear? Ridley Scott said, ‘You look like fucking Jackie Onassis in space!'"
Hollywood royalty Sigourney Weaver talked us through a career kicking ass across the galaxy in anticipation of the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Stanley Tucci on pasta, popes and his new food show Tucci In Italy
"If you drive three to 600 miles in America, you're going to get the same fucking food you got in New York as you get in Chicago — with the exception of deep dish pizza! It's all the same, and that is a world that we have chosen to create for ourselves. Italy refuses to do that.”
Stanley Tucci had our mouths watering as he talked us through his latest televisual culinary adventure, Tucci In Italy.
Jason Momoa talks Minecraft movie mayhem, 5 all-time metal tracks, and a Dune 3 return
"This is probably the most fun I've ever had shooting. I've never done a comedy — these guys are getting away with murder! They get to work and laugh all day long. I’m usually all beat up and covered in blood and fighting all the time."
Jason Momoa showed off his softer comedic side in kids' megahit A Minecraft Movie — he told us all about his adventure with Jack Black, and shared his favourite metal songs of all time too...
Beyond the villain — Avatar: Fire and Ash’s Stephen Lang talks the saga’s future, and cinema’s all-time great bad guys
"With villains there is, by definition, an exotic quality to them. And so like a spice, they need to be used very, very carefully."
With a third Avatar movie under his belt, Stephen Lang is joining the ranks of all-time great silver screen villains. But where will the CGI extravaganza take him next? We caught up with Lang ahead of the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash to find out...
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’s Stephen Graham on fatherhood, authenticity, and bringing The Boss’s dad to life
"I've developed an ability now where I can dive in, do a deep dive, and come up for air as soon as we say cut, more or less."
Stephen Graham just might have won 2025, with a career-defining role in Netflix's Adolescence and a scene-stealing turn in the Bruce Springsteen biopic. We sat down with the star to find out how he handles the emotional rollercoasters his roles put him through.
Mission Impossible cast's 9 BTS secrets — Cameos, crime and what they really think about Tom Cruise
“When my team said 'Tom would like you Mission Impossible', I just swore, I swore for about thirty seconds.”
The ever-relatable Hannah Waddingham fangirled over Tom Cruise just as much as we did as we sat down with co-stars Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg and the rest of the Mission Impossible cast.
5 things you need to know about Sinners, the most anticipated horror movie of the year, according to Black Panther director Ryan Coogler
“What Michael B. Jordan and I went through with losing Chadwick, man, it made us both, I think, appreciate each other even more.”
Through heartache came one of the best horror films in decades — and one of the finest films of the year — in Sinners. Director Ryan Coogler talked us through what made his vampire hit so lip-lickingly good.
Vince Gilligan and the Pluribus cast talk sci-fi, sugar highs and secret scripts
“X-Files was a film school I got paid to attend for seven years.”
Vince Gilligan has brought us some of TV's greatest hits, and with Pluribus for Apple TV, he again delivered with a sci-fi head scratcher that's quietly become the cult streaming hit of the year. He and the rest of the Pluribus cast talk us through bringing the idea to the small screen.
Adam Buxton talks going from podfather to pop star, and the podcast we should all be listening to
"I wrote a song called Pizza Time and sent it to Jonny Greenwood. Didn't hear back, and felt really embarrassed that I'd sent it to him. I thought, 'well, it's his fault.' He did say I could, but then, of course, he didn't mean it..."
The king of DIY comedy turned his hand to music this year, with surprisingly great results. Buxton had us chuckling between shows with indie-giant backing band Metronomy.
Blink 182’s Tom DeLonge on UFOs, Bigfoot, and his debut film Monsters of California
"I have been with friends out looking for Bigfoot in the forest of California. Never found it, though! And I have been to the desert looking for UFOs, and had an encounter, and have seen them."
From pop-punk to paranormal preacher, Blink 182's Tom DeLonge made his directorial debut this year, and talked us through the biggest government coverups and conspiracies of all time.
The Russo brothers on The Electric State, Spielberg’s ‘ubiquitous’ influence, and the ‘addiction problem’ of modern technology
"Technology benefits all of us, but it also has incredible downsides as well – there’s a massive addiction problem. The movie isn't demonizing technology, it's just asking questions about what our relation to it is. How is that relationship best positioned moving forward? And how do we protect ourselves from the downsides of it moving forward?"
Blockbuster directing duo The Russo brothers took on the robot apocalypse for Netflix this year, and talked us through their tricky relationship with the technological revolution.
Daredevil: Born Again stars Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio talk their big MCU comeback in Disney’s most brutal Marvel show yet
"Normally, when you go into your tenth year playing a character, you’re winding down, but we’re going the other way. It would be interesting to know what gives up first, Marvel’s faith in us or our bodies!"
The TV return we all hoped for but never dreamed would happen, Daredevil made a triumphant return to Disney+ in 2025. Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio talked us through the show's emotional comeback.
'It was a real leap of faith': Matt Smith and Darren Aronofsky on their new movie, Caught Stealing
"Hair is a very sensitive thing so we wanted to be careful with it."
The biggest challenge for Darren Aronofsky on set for his latest movie, Caught Stealing? Convincing star Matt Smith to go for a mohawk haircut. It was all worth it though, as the caper flick entertained cinema-goers this summer with its anarchic attitude. We sat down with the pair to talk through the shoot.
Boxer shorts, biopics, and being alone: Sydney Sweeney, David Michôd, and Mirrah Foulkes talk tacking a legend in the new Christy biopic
“I kept most of Christy’s boxing shorts, and got those framed.”
Sydney Sweeney played against type in boxing biopic Christy — and nabbed a few unusual on-set trophies to take home too...
Nova Twins pick the 4 new rock bands you need to hear
“For a while, rock felt sidelined… but it’s amazing to see newer bands bringing something fresh to the table. Hopefully we can all become those headliners one day.”
The second coming of rock is in safe hands with the Nova Twins, who helped refresh our stale playlists with a whole host of rocking new bands.
Kaitlin Olsen chats all things High Potential
"It’s really great to see female leads relying on each other and being supportive instead of jealous as they can often stereotypically be."
Comedy queen Kaitlin Olsen took a step away from Philly to sit down with us and spill all the BTS secrets on her new crime-solving hit, High Potential.
Don’t Stop Him Now: Queen's Brian May on Yungblud, recovering from a stroke, losing Ozzy and taking fans on an exploration through space
“You can’t go to rock star school to become Yungblud — it has to be in you. He’s got a great voice, incredible passion, and wonderful connection with the audience — he kills! I think he’s amazing.”
Sir Brian May was ready to knight the next generation of rock royalty as we caught up with him to talk about his latest project — capturing the majesty of outer space in a 3D book.
Fantastic Four First Steps' Ralph Ineson on his planet-devouring Galactus role, his mate Lex Luthor, and splitting the galactic G
"It was a proper nerd bootcamp."
Hollywood's deepest voice took on intergalactic proportions, as Ralph Ineson took on the villainous role of Galactus in Marvel's big comeback blockbuster, Fantastic Four First Steps.
7 ultimate cars in Richard Hammond’s dream garage (and one nightmare)
“Cars are so much more than a bundle of machined parts.”
Top Gear's Richard Hammond knows cars — so when he talks about dream rides, you sit up and listen. Petrolheads won't want to miss his top picks for a fantasy garage...
Foundation's Jared Harris on swear words, swashbuckling and the NASA inspiration behind his sci-fi stardom
"'Juno’s tits you've brought a lot of luggage' - I said that in Pompeii. It didn’t make it into Carnival Row, but there’s a play in that about a Christ parallel, and there was a martyr who was hung on a kind of cross-like-thing, and I'd added some swear words like, 'By the martyr’s severed cock' or something."
Jaren Harris gave us a schooling in expletives while discussing the fate of the universe for the latest season of Apple TV hit foundation.
Tim Key on Hollywood humour, Partridges and pigeon suits — and his new book L.A. Baby!
"You have stuff like Wallis Island where you work for years, and eventually you find yourself filming it. But then you also have something where director Bong Joon Ho gets in touch and says, ‘Would you like to play a pigeon?’"
Shortlist's favourite comedian, Tim Key, had an amazing 2025, making his Hollywood debut, nabbing a starring sitcom role, seeing great success with his own long-in-the-making movie, and putting out another collection of hilarious poems. His list of five things that he can't live without were an absurd joy to find out.
Danny Boyle on 28 Years Later sequel The Bone Temple, Cillian Murphy’s return — and THAT shocking pregnancy
“People said we can’t call the film 28 Days Later — there’s a Sandra Bullock movie called 28 Days, which is a quite successful romantic comedy, and people might get seriously distressed if it gets mixed up. And we said, ‘Good.’”
28 Years Later was a wild and magnificent return to horror cinema for Brit hero Danny Boyle — we caught up with the director to find out what's next from his ongoing not-quite-zombies franchise.
Domhnall Gleeson on playing the villain, a dream Cohen brothers collaboration, and his new Apple TV movie Echo Valley
"I’ll tell you what’s wrong, sweet popcorn. The first time I came to England, I was 19, they asked me if I wanted sweet or salted popcorn at the cinema. In my head I just thought, “What the f*ck are you talking about?’"
If Domhnall Gleeson's confectionery opinions send a shiver down your spine, wait until you see him play the villain in Apple TV's Echo Valley. We shared a pint — and a mutual love of Alan Partridge — with the star...
Freddie Flintoff on cricket, crashes, and career changes: 7 life lessons ahead of his new documentary
"I remember when I was waiting for the air ambulance to take off, one of the doctors was holding my hand and just said: 'this is going to take off in a minute, but I’ve got you, I’m going to get you through this' and he did. So did the ketamine to be fair - I didn’t even know we’d taken off…"
With humour and grace, cricket legend Freddie Flintoff talked us through the lessons he's learnt since his horror car crash, the road to recovery, and his much-welcome comeback.
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